Steam Powered Giraffe - Moreau-Walter Amalgamated
by Aoikami Sarah
Summary: "On the day that Col. Peter A Walter married Delilah Moreau, Thaddeus Becile vowed to destroy their happiness, even if it meant hurting the woman he loved..." The Moreau-Walter family - wealthy, renowned, prolific, and totally dysfunctional. When tragedy strikes, the word 'function' no longer applies at all and Lilah Moreau-Walter has to learn to live with Becile's consequences.
1. Prelude

**Moreau-Walter Amalgamated**

**Prelude**

On the day that Col. Peter A Walter married Delilah Moreau, Thaddeus Becile vowed to destroy their happiness, even if it meant hurting the woman he loved. Fortunately for her, Delilah was not only a formidable scientist, weidling an outstandingly powerful knowledge of chemistry, her new husband was a genius roboticist. Between the two of them, and with the aid of their friends and colleagues at the Cavalcadium, they thwarted every attack Becile Industries threw at them. In 1907, only ten years after they were married, the two founded a company that would one day become the most renowned providers of medical diagnostic, assistive, and rehabilitation robotics in American history-Moreau-Walter Amalgamated.

The four robots that had been the key to wooing the music-loving Delilah to Peter's side were considered part of the family, even after their creator produced his own children with his bride. Peter A Moreau-Walter was born in 1902, followed by a daughter, Daphne in 1906. In 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and the newly formed company was asked to assist in the war effort. Because the automatons had fought in the Weekend War in Africa, Peter thought that his "sons'" participation was not only patriotic, but wholly appropriate. His wife disagreed, and, although they loved each other very much, the two grew distant once the four robots were shipped overseas.

When they returned, shell-shocked and distressed, Delilah did her best to contain her rage and forced her husband to develop a way to suppress their terrible memories of the conflict. Though it was not one-hundred percent successful, his programming did help them to lead more normal lives. In 1930, just after her son was married, Delilah Moreau died in her sleep, having suffered a pulmonary embolism.

In 1938, Peter Walter was in failing health. His son, although raised with the automatons in the house, was not as close to them as his father and certainly mother had been. The automaton called Hatchworth began to malfunction, causing disturbances in the space-time continuum and Peter A Moreau-Walter quickly and decisively sealed him away in a vault far underneath the manor house for the safety of mankind. When the second World War swept America up into its chaos, without hesitation, this man signed the three remaining robots up for service and once again, but not for the last time, they suffered through horrific experiences.

Peter Moreau-Walter had married in 1930 Jane Wells-Blouch (1903-1979), a daughter of steel magnate Jasper Blouch. They had two children, Peter A Moreau-Walter II born 1932 and Katherine Wells Moreau-Walter born 1933, who was drowned at the age of fifteen in 1948 during a boating accident in Hawai'i. This was the story the world heard, but in truth she was drowned in the Pacific, far from Hawai'i as she was being rescued, having been kidnapped by agents of Becile Industries. It was the first major blow in what had already been a decades-long war between the two families. Katie had always been fond of the automatons and their music and had taken them with her on vacation to the Big Island. While they fought to get her back on the high-seas, Ignatius Becile's youngest son, Bertram was also knocked overboard and drowned.

Just two years later, incensed by the loss of his son at the hands of the robots, Becile launched an attack directly on Moreau-Walter Amalgamated during which the robot called Rabbit's power core was stolen from his chassis. Peter A Moreau-Walter I, his son II, and their assistant Roger Reed attempted to retrieve it. Peter I and Norman Becile were killed when Becile tried to crack it open to reveal its secrets. For twenty-four hours, people within a fifty-mile radius of the explosion suffered as their nightmares were made real. Peter II and Reed recovered from the nightmares, repaired and retrieved the core and returned home changed men. Young Reed's hair turned white and Peter's hands trembled so badly that he never worked again.

Peter A Moreau-Walter II married in 1946 Clara Notts Schemerhorn (1935-1989) (of the Manhattan Schemerhorns) and had two children, Peter A "Alex" Moreau-Walter III born 1947 and Dawn VanKleek Moreau-Walter born 1951. Peter II died a young man in 1959, unofficially of complications from alcoholism. His widow Clara and aunt Daphne declared war on Becile in the only way they knew how and enlisted an army of lawyers to bring Becile Industries to its knees financially. Their enemy was out of business (in America) by 1963. Daphne Moreau-Walter headed the family business from the time of her nephew's death until she gladly handed the reins to her 18-year-old nephew Peter III in 1965. She then spent three years on a grand tour of the world. She never married or had any children. When Daphne returned she was devastated to learn that Peter III had been swayed by a large government contract to send the automatons once more to war. There was a large argument between the two heads of the family which was resolved by MWA's board of directors who sided with Peter III. Daphne spent much of her remaining days in her suite of rooms, taking her meals there and refusing to see any visitors but her sister-in-law Mrs. Jane Moreau-Walter, Mrs. Clara Moreau-Walter and the three automatons who visited her regularly. She died of heart failure in 1972, Jane passed in 1979 and Clara in 1989.

Dr. Alex Moreau-Walter (Peter III) married Eliza Ann Overbaugh in 1969. They had three children, Deliah Moreau-Walter in 1971, Peter A Moreau-Walter IV in 1973, and Deelia Moreau-Walter in 1977. Following Daphne's death, Alex made and signed a pact that the singing automatons would never again be entered into an armed conflict as machines of war and had their weaponry permanently removed and their musical capabilities improved. At this time he also submitted his resignation from the Cavalcadium, ending generations of his family's involvement with the organization. This caused quite a stir in the super-science community.

Alex's sister, Dawn Moreau-Walter married for money in 1975 Richard J Plifterson and removed to New Pennsyltucky, knowing that her brother's children would be the ones to inherit the family business. Known locally as Mrs. Dawn M Plifterson, she joined many charitable organizations such as the Daughters of the Yellow Columbine, The Plifterson City Ladies' Benevolent Society (which she founded), Friends of Hensleigh Plantation, and Clean Air for All People (CAAP), for which she has helped raise millions of dollars.

Through the 1980's, Moreau-Walter Amalgamated continued to be at the forefront of advances in medical robotic technology.


	2. Lilah Moreau-Walter

**Moreau-Walter Amalgamated**

Lilah Moreau-Walter

**Friday, July 19th, 1991. San Diego, CA**

Steam escaped and gears wheezed for a few moments as Rabbit waited for a young woman to finish pouring a bright yellow liquid into an Erlenmeyer flask. Standing in a long hall, he peeked in around a door-frame into a large laboratory in the basement of the Moreau-Walter family home in San Diego-a sprawling complex of labs below ground and gilded-age residential opulence above. Once she set the beaker down, he called quietly to her. "Miss Lilah?" Rabbit's voice echoed off the lab walls. She grinned knowingly as she turned to face him.

With any other member of the Moreau-Walter family, Rabbit would have bounded in and pounced on them, perhaps on purpose, upsetting whatever work they were doing. But to Rabbit, Delilah Moreau-Walter was different. She was Pappy's great-great-granddaughter and more so than anyone else who'd come before her, she was his spitting image. Her hair was short and blue-black and she wore it, perhaps purposefully, with the bangs long and they curled out the same way his had done. She was tall and lean, but her frame was rounder and softer on account of being a woman than Pappy's had been. And what was more, even though she'd never met her second-great-grandfather, she had a few of the same mannerisms he exhibited. One of these presented itself to Rabbit as she faced him and planted her fists on her skinny hips with the elbows cocked forward just a little. "What can I do for you, Rabbit?" she asked. "Need a tune up?"

The robot was dressed down in a plain pair of black bell-bottoms, a long-sleeved knit shirt and a red bandana over his copper skull. "Oh, no. N-not right now. Ya see, we got a show comin' up..."

Detecting that it would be a bit of a long conversation, Lilah took her gloves off, set them on the work table and walked toward the robot. "Yes, I know. A big show in at the stadium tomorrow with the Dollop-of-losers, was it?" she teased.

Rabbit made a face and raised a brow at the twenty-year old woman. "_Lollapalooza_. It's the name of the show, not a band."

"Right, right. Are you ready?"

"Well that's just it, see, I... Well, The Jon and The Spine, they're really nervous about it (the big babies) and I thought maybe if there was a familiar face in the audience they wouldn't be so... _nervous_." He blinked one eye then the other and pursed his lips.

For a brief moment, the young woman clenched her teeth involuntarily, then took a deep breath. "Poor Jon and Spine," Lilah sympathized. "I'm sure they'll do just fine once the show starts. You're all old pros at this, after all."

"Well, yeah..." Rabbit blew steam from his vents in frustration. "But it's been so long since we played anything b-b-bigger than the park and I... I mean, Spine and The Jon they're worried about how this new audience will like us. What if they _don't _like us? What if they _boo _us!"

Lilah put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure they will love you. The Steam Man Band wouldn't have been asked to play this event otherwise, right?"

"B-b-b-but..." he stammered and his shoulders slumped with a ringing crunch that made Lilah wince as he reached his tension's breaking point. "Crud."

"Rabbit," she said stepping away to get her tools. "You need to relax. It's really not that big a deal."

"But it _is_!" he whined. "They say there'll be thousands of people there! _Thousands_! They say there'll be _moshing_." He stressed the strange word as if it was synonymous with 'murdering' while pulling his shirt off over his head. He turned his back to her, knowing where he'd malfunctioned, and without being asked granted her silent permission to work on him. Delilah Moreau-Walter was also unlike any other member of her family in that she was the only one Rabbit allowed to repair him without argument.

"I doubt very highly that people will be _moshing _to _your _music. I heard you're going on first so the crowd probably won't be crazy yet. Not that I know much about rock shows. That's just what Patrick Reed told me yesterday." Rabbit reached a hand around and pointed to the offending section, his left shoulder, and she removed the copper panel. Sure enough, a gear had slipped its track and a spring had unwound. "Better sit down for this one," she said, sighing a little. He complied, shuffling his feet like a child who'd been scolded.

"Sorry," Rabbit said softly and took a seat on a lab stool. "Miss Lilah, I'm scared," he admitted, looking up at her with his mismatched eyes. He was about to swing around to show her his back again but she squatted down in front of him and put her hand on his knee. She looked up at him with sympathy and patience and let out a slow breath.

"And that's _ok_," she said, smiling. "If it makes you feel better, I'll come to the show for you."

He straightened up and beamed at her. "You will? Oh! Thanks, Miss Lilah! Oh! Thanks!" He hugged her and the slipped gear ground loudly against other surrounding parts. They laughed together.


	3. Lollapalooza

**Moreau-Walter Amalgamated**

**Lollapalooza**

"There you are," Dr. Peter A Moreau-Walter III (or "Alex" as he liked to be called) said as he poked his head into his eldest girl's lab and his eyes narrowed as he saw her toss her lab coat down the laundry shoot. He was tall and his brown hair was receding which he was clearly fighting the best he could. "You're done for the day? What about the cardiac study?"

Lilah froze. "Oh, gosh, Dad I forgot! See, Rabbit was just in here..." she said with smile which quickly fell when she saw the disappointed look on her father's face.

"No matter. We can work on it tomorrow."

She folded her arms nervously. "Uh, actually. I have plans tomorrow."

"Plans?" he practically shouted in surprise. "When do you have _plans_? Is it with a _boy_?"

"No..."

"Oh." her father said, more disappointment in his voice. "Well, you can't have plans anyway. We have work."

"But, Dad..."

He frowned and folded his arms as well. "Do you like your title, Delilah?"

"My title?" she asked, confused.

"Vice President. I know that it's new to you, but it means that you have responsibilities."

Lilah folded her arms tighter. "Dad, tomorrow is Saturday. Even the cleaning staff has off."

"You are not the cleaning staff. You are my assistant."

"I thought I was VP?" she snapped back.

"Don't be smart with me."

"Don't do this to me right now."

"What? Remind you of what you are here to do?"

"I'm going to the show tomorrow. The robots are nervous and they asked for my support."

"The show?" Alex raised his hand and extended two fingers. "They'll be _fine_ and you hate crowds."

"I know, but..."

"You care too much about them and not enough about your future, Delilah."

She thrust out her left hand and counted off on her own fingers as she made three points. "One: they're my friends, two: it's a Saturday, and three: it's just right here in San Deigo. If you want, I'll help you when I get back, it's not even a late show!" A fourth finger was extended for that additional point. "I think they go on at four in the afternoon for Chri'sake."

Alex rolled his eyes. "There's no need to get defensive, Delilah."

"Really, Dad? You always back me into a corner when you try to talk to me about anything other than work. You assume that just because I'm a loser with no real friends..." She pursed her lips tightly, stormed through the wide doorway and down the hall toward the elevator. "I'll see you _tomorrow_," she said tersely as she passed him. He said nothing.

**Saturday, July 20th, 1991. Devore Stadium, San Diego, CA**

There were quite a few strange people at the stadium and Lilah, who didn't get out much to begin with, was glad that she was able to travel with the band and didn't have to mill around with the masses until it was show time. She hugged The Jon, The Spine and shook the hands of the humans; the current drummer, Lenny Stevens, and the current band leader, Patrick Reed. Lastly, she hugged her unabashed favorite robot, Rabbit who practically had to be pried off of her. "You'll be fine!" she said. His green eye looked relieved and his blue one looked terrified and he nodded quickly in reply.

She found her way around to the front of the stage and into the audience which was large, but as she had hoped, not yet whipped into a pushy, smelly frenzy. Lilah was glad that she had decided to wear all black-it hid the fact that she had relatively little fashion sense. People with all sorts of differently-colored hair abounded, yet a woman with a three-inch purple mohawk beside her stared hard at her for a while before tapping her on the shoulder.

"What do you use on your hair?" the young woman asked.

Lilah blinked up at her tried not to stare at a tattoo of flames on the shorn sides of her skull. "Use...?"

"The blue-black is really awesome. Catches the sun really cool."

"Thanks. It's natural, actually."

The woman laughed. "Awesome."

Lilah breathed a sigh of relief as the show started. The Steam Man Band played a typical set starting with "Clockwork Vaudeville" then "Steamboat Shenanigans". The audience stood almost motionless for the first two minutes but soon pressed in tighter and tapped their feet and swayed to the old-timey-sounding tunes. The band had decided to forgo the usual skits and get straight to the songs due to the nature of the show, and were just about to launch into "Automatonic Electronic Harmonics" when three people dressed in black wearing black gas masks charged the stage, each hurling something at it as they ran. Smoke bombs exploded and huge clouds of thick green smoke blocked the stage from sight.

Lilah's heart went into her stomach then fought its way into her throat as the scene played out seemingly in slow motion. The crowd panicked and as it fled she fought her way toward the stage, swimming against the current of human bodies. The Jon's wailing drowned out much of what anyone else said over the PA but she heard Rabbit cry out "Help! Miss Lilah! Hel-" before he was silenced. The Jon's wailing cut out next then The Spine could be heard saying "Run, Lenny! Patrick! Run and get..." before he too went quiet behind the curtain of smoke.

"Lilah get out of here!" came Patrick Reed's voice over the speakers. Too late. As Lilah tried to approach she was pushed to the ground and trampled.

When she regained her senses the shouting crowd was replaced with the whine of sirens. She was being barked at by a large man in a blue EMT uniform who was asking her what her name was.

"The bots! Lenny! Patrick!" she cried as she realized where she was and tried to sit up. Pain screamed from her left shoulder and she noticed that it was not at all in the position it should be. Her breathing quickened in response to a flood of adrenaline and her eyes shot to the stage. There were police talking to Patrick Reed and the forms of the three robots lay prone on the stage around him. Grasping the EMT by the shirt with her left hand, she performed a sort of self-Kocher's method to reset the joint using his bulk for balance then sprang to her feet and dashed to the stage, pulling a folded multi-tool from her pocket as she went. Security guards shouted after her but she made it to Patrick Reed who called them off. He took her right arm and pulled her up onto the surface of the stage and before she could ask, she saw them.

Their eyes were closed. They lay on their backs-probably placed that way by Reed. Lenny the drummer sat near him with his head on his folded arms over his knees. Reed started to explain that he hadn't seen what happened and the police were being terrible-treating them like damaged property. Lilah heard him but didn't seem to register it as she walked slowly toward the closest robot-her favorite. Dropping to her knees before him she feverishly opened his vest and started removing the copper plating with her multi-tool. Once the chest plate was off and clattered to the floor she gasped at the sight before her.

"It's gone," she said.

"The core?" Reed shouted.

"No. The core is here. The Matter is gone," she said, her voice tremulous. She scrambled to her feet and checked The Spine then The Jon and found the same situation. The crystal core was there, intact, sealed away inside their chests, vacant of a hint of Blue Matter. Turning to look back at Reed and Lenny, Delilah Moreau-Walter started to shake and only just made it to the edge of the stage before she vomited. When she had finished, she rocked back onto her folded legs and stared at the sky. Reed's touch on her shoulder shocked her but she acquiesced to the hug he wanted to give her. Her wounded shoulder throbbed in agony but it hardly seemed to matter.

"They're dead, Patrick."

"I sent Lenny to call the manor for backup. We'll need help. Are you ok?" he asked, passing her a bottle of water.

She grasped it with both hands but found that lifting her left arm was near impossible. "I was hurt in the press."

"You need an ambulance."

"No, I'll be alright."

"_Yes, you do_," he said firmly. "There's nothing..." Reed started. He didn't want to say it. "There's nothing you can do here. Go get checked on, please?" When she nodded, Reed called out for one of many EMTs on the scene helping other people who were trampled to come and help her.

The young woman stared out the scene before her. Dozens of young people were being attended to by EMTs. Police and event staff were everywhere. Emergency vehicles' lights flashed and sirens wailed and the music was decidedly silenced for the day. "Did you see them-the three who threw the smoke bombs?" she asked.

"No, did you?"

Lilah nodded. "They had green hair."

"Green... Like the color of the smoke. Like..."

"It can only be. It can _only _be _their _work. They did this. They've done it _again_. Why, Patrick? Why kill them? Why can't they just let this end!" she growled angrily.

"I don't know," he said quietly, releasing Lilah to the same EMT she had earlier used as a shoulder-reset who jumped up onto the stage and scolded her. Her eyes were not focusing on anything but still dry as shock set in. Once she was in good hands, Reed turned away and broke down.

.x.

Three robots lay on three exam tables in the largest of the robotics labs in the extensive basement of the manor house. Their empty power cores had been removed and sat next to each prone figure, but other than extensive testing, nothing else had been done to try to repair them. Alex Moreau-Walter had decided not to proceed with any course of action before his eldest returned from the hospital. His son Peter and Patrick Reed stood nearby, waiting for the prognosis.

"No good," he said simply, shrugging. "They're kaput."

Eighteen-year-old Peter stared at the broken robots silently and twenty-six-year-old Reed stifled an irritated scoff and rubbed his hand over his face. He jumped a little as a sleek, silver telephone on the wall nearby rang with a loud electronic chime. Alex nodded to him and he picked it up. "Reed," he said in greeting. "She is? Good. We'll be right up."

"Send her down here," Alex said forcefully.

"Send her...? Hold on a sec." He cupped the cordless phone to his chest. "Sir, she just go back from the hospital and we don't know if..."

Peter's black eyes looked from Reed to his father, but he said nothing.

"If she's been released, she's well enough to walk. Send her down here."

Reed took a calming breath before putting the receiver back to his face. "Dr. Moreau-Walter would like his daughter to join us in Lab One. Yes. _Yes_. Thank you. She'll be right down," he said and pressed the 'end' button.

Peter slumped his wiry frame onto a stool and folded his arms. "Dad, I could have..."

"We've been over this, Peter. This is as much her responsibility as yours. Delilah must be included in whatever decision we make."

They didn't have long to wait as a soft ping sounded indicating the elevator doors had opened and quick footsteps were heard approaching the lab.

Lilah appeared disheveled, her hair sticking out in all the wrong directions. Her black tee-shirt and black jeans from the day before were visibly dirty. Her left arm rested in a sling around her neck. "News?" she asked flatly and ran her right hand through her hair. There were large circles under her blue eyes.

"No change," Reed said softly.

"Plans?" she asked, pulling up a stool next to her younger brother.

"None."

"What?" she spat. "What about Becile?"

"What about them?" her father spat back. "What's done is done. We were waiting for you to add your input about the robots, not about those lunatics."

"Do you mean we're just going to let them get away with this?" Lilah shouted. Peter hunched his shoulders as if the sound of her voice hurt him.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as if a headache were coming on. "We cannot retaliate against..."

"Why not? They killed them, Dad!" She looked to Reed who seemed to want to agree but didn't dare defy his employer and then to her brother who looked to the floor for sanctuary. "If we do nothing...!"

"If we do _anything_, this will keep going _forever_!" Alex shouted. "When I was a baby, my aunt Katie was kidnapped and drowned. They lost one of their own at the same time. In the 1950 incident we lost my grandfather and they lost another one of theirs. This time we were lucky it was just the robots."

Lilah gasped and gripped the lip of her stool as if to keep from falling off of it. "What did you say? It was _just _the _robots_? Wh-what does that mean! They are our family!"

"I mean that no Beciles were killed and none of our flesh-and-blood family was killed so perhaps, daughter of mine who was present when this went down, perhaps, this ridiculous tit-for-tat will _end here_!" Alex took a deep calming breath and smoothed back his comb-over which had gone a bit wild. "We have never retaliated against Becile. They have always come for _us _and they've come _back _because they've lost lives on their side. It could be done, now. We could be safe, _forever_."

Lilah was enraged but it was clear that his words reached her. She stewed in her seat, her face flushed, eyes focused on her father's feet.

"And so, your brother, Mr. Reed and I have come to the conclusion that we should insert new power cores into the robots and get them operational to further show Becile that we are resilient and that the war is over. What do you think?"

Lilah lifted her head with a perplexed look. "New cores? In their bodies? No. You can't."

"Delilah," Alex began. "I know how attached you were to them, but..."

"It doesn't matter about how I feel," she said, shaking. "Their cores are their souls. You can't expect them to be themselves with new ones."

"I didn't say that I did."

"That's even worse, Dad! Don't you get it?" she shouted hysterically, spit flying from her mouth as she gestured to her brother. "Imagine if Pete died and you found a new soul for his body. The new soul would have to deal with your sorrow every time you saw him and missed your son. The new soul would be constantly reminded that it was supposed to be someone else. That's not fair; not fair to the new souls, not fair to the robots' memory and not fair to us, either!"

An awkward silence fell over the room. Patrick Reed startled them as he suggested "what if you're wrong?"

Lilah raised a brow. "What?"

"What if, now, bear with me, I'm a scientist, not a magician. What if when we install the new Blue Matter cores they somehow link up to the robots' memories and they come back to us. We've never done this before so you can't rule something like that out."

The young woman looked as if she wanted to tear his head off. "Damn it, Patrick! No! You can't have hope!"

"I do, though, Lilah! They were my friends! I want to believe that we have a chance to get them back!"

She turned on her father next. "You put this idea in his head, didn't you? Shame! Shame on you! It's not possible!"

"I didn't," Alex said quietly. "Peter did."

The young man folded his arms tighter and seemed to sink closer to the floor as attention was turned on him. "I'm sorry, Lilah. I didn't mean to..."

They were all shocked that rather than start screaming again, Lilah clapped a hand to her mouth and tears flowed over it. "Damn it. I can't have any hope. It's not going to work. It's not going to be them and if we bring them online and it's not them... I feel like I might just _die_!"

Her father, not one for sentimentality, stood where he was. "Then what do you propose we do?"

It took a moment for her to compose herself. "Well, according to Peter Walter, when you bring a matter core into wakefulness, it impresses immediately, like a baby duck."

"Right."

"So if it's not them (and it won't be), they'll begin sentience from the point of wakefulness," she stated, remembering her great-great-grandfather's notes. "If you offline them for any length of time, you run risk of deviation and madness should you try a reinstallation years later, as was the case with the Butler incident."

"Correct," Alex agreed, pressing his index finger to his lips in thought. "So, here's a thing. If you are correct and the new cores do not bring their consciousnesses back, do you think that if we had permanent bodies prepared ahead of time into which we could switch the cores in a matter of moments after wakefulness, that a bad impression would be avoided?"

She thought for a second, eyes flicking back and forth a little as if reading notes no one else could see. "Yes."

Alex clapped his hands once, his brilliant mind spinning into action. "Good. Reed, Peter, see to the new medi-bots we've been working on. Get them ready for Blue Matter insertion as soon as possible."

Peter leapt off the stool and quickly headed to medical robot lab, making no eye contact with anyone on his way out. Patrick Reed nodded.

"Delilah, you and I shall work on a third robot. Perhaps an assistive? Shouldn't be too much trouble if it doesn't need the bells and whistles that medi-bots One and Two have."

"Ok," she said softly.

Reed put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him through tired eyes. "You remember to take care of yourself, too," he advised and she nodded almost imperceptibly.


	4. Dysfunction Junction

**Moreau-Walter Amalgamated**

**Dysfunction Junction**

**Saturday, July 27th, 1991**

One week after the Lollapalooza incident, the Moreau-Walter family became accustomed to the new silence in the manor. Peter, Alex, Patrick Reed and Lilah were seldom seen, spending most of their waking hours in the labs preparing the new robots, should their experiment fail.

One and Two had been due to come online soon and their projects were merely sped up. They were given the appropriate medical designations "Ether" and "Salve". Most of the build was done and final checks were being performed. Ether was a tall, grey robot with a blank, featureless faceplate that was designed to be a roving diagnostic center, able to collect medical samples and readings. Salve was shorter and designed to administer first-aid on a variety of levels. It had a brushed stainless steel chassis and a round, friendly-looking face. Unlike normal medical equipment, the medi-bots would be able to interact and adapt to any situation with the aid of Blue Matter cores to give them the spark of artificial intelligence Peter A. Walter developed almost a century before.

A third new robot named "Pi" was being constructed from the ground-up in one week's time by Lilah and Alex. Pi was shorter yet than Salve at about five foot five and given the most life-like features such as a fully-articulated face and hands and the smoothest gyros for fluidity of movement. When Pi came online, except for the obviousness of its electrostatically-applied blue painted exterior, it would seem very human in mannerism. All three robots, unlike their late, nineteenth-century brothers, were not steam-powered. Instead, Alex had routed the Blue Matter output to alternating current.

It was rare in this time to catch sight of Lilah Moreau-Walter so when her younger sister found her sitting at the breakfast nook in the family kitchen Saturday morning she did a double-take. Lilah was only twenty years old, but looked like an old woman as she sat hunkered over a half-eaten and soggy bowl of cereal. Her head was in both of her hands over this and a tall cup of coffee had grown cold at her right elbow.

"Lilah?" the fifteen-year-old asked.

Lilah raised her head slightly and looked to her left. "Deelia," she said in voice rough like a phonograph recording. She wore black cotton slacks and a fairly grimy t-shirt which hung off of her and made her appear even thinner than she had become.

Deelia Moreau-Walter was dressed in a short, pleated skirt with pink and blue flowers on a black background. Tucked into this was a white button-down shirt. The collar was open, unbuttoned to the second button and pulled up to her neck so that it billowed at her lower back. Her pale blue hair was cut to shoulder-length and pinned back with a headband. "You look like crap," she said, taking a seat next to her.

"Gee. Thanks," Lilah answered leaning back in her chair. "Nice to see you, too."

"I haven't seen you in weeks."

"Six days, actually."

"Whatever."

"I've been busy, Deelie."

"I know that," the girl replied, annoyed. "It sucks what happened."

Lilah almost scoffed. "Yes, that it does."

Deelia scuffed a loafered foot across the floor idly. "But Pete says we'll have new robots soon so that's good, right?"

The older girl closed her eyes tightly. "Sure." She pushed the chair back and grasped her coffee mug; a tall, silver travel mug with the Moreau-Walter Amalgamated logo on it. "It's been swell talking to you, but I have to get back to work."

"You didn't even eat breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Lilah asked, stood and looked to the clock on the wall. "Oh," she laughed lightly. "That was dinner, actually. Good morning. Have a nice day with your… whatever nice thing you're doing today."

"What the hell is wrong with you? I'm just saying you haven't eaten anything. Mom's a wreck over you, you know!"

"Oh, I know. She told me as much herself," Lilah said without a hint of mirth in her voice as she walked slowly to the doorway. "Her solution was that I should go out on a date with Patrick. Isn't that a hoot?"

"Well, maybe you should! He's in love with you."

This got a laugh. "I know. Poor fool."

Deelia leapt up out of her chair and balled her fists. "Why can't you just do it! Maybe if you went out with him-went outside the house at all-you'd be happier! All you ever do is hang out with robots!"

Lilah stopped laughing and leaned against the doorframe. She leveled her blue eyes at her sister until they forced the younger girl to look away. "Whatever you do with your life, Deelie, do it for yourself. Don't try to do it for someone else. Otherwise, you'll just end up disappointing people." And with that, she slipped out and down to the lab once more.

**Wednesday, July 31st, 1991**

Lab One was quiet. All the preparations were done. Of the four humans in the room, not one made a sound for a few moments. On one side of a large, gunmetal-grey folding screen were three exam tables ratcheted at a forty-five degree angle, each with a bright, shining new robot body on it. On the other side, the three bodies of Col. Peter A Walter's Steam Man Band lay clothed on similar tables at the same angle, waiting for the experiment to begin.

As soon as Lilah entered the room and saw them lying there, she began to hyperventilate and had to sit down. Patrick Reed hovered over her and her father folded his arms. "You must be ready for this, Delilah," he said plainly. "You must show no negative emotion when they go online or the impression will be..."

"I know-Dad," she huffed. "Give me-five-minutes."

He turned his back on her and pretended to be busy checking charts and going over his notes for the fiftieth time. Her brother rubbed his thumbs over and over and made little eye contact if any. "It's ok, Lilah," he said meekly. "The medi-bots are ready. It'll be smooth. The transition. It'll go quick, I mean. Over soon."

"I know," she gently brushed Reed's hands from her shoulders and stood. Her eyes were half-lidded and darkly circled. Her hair was limp and unwashed. She had thought to wear a lab coat and its crisp whiteness heavily contrasted her disheveled appearance. "I know. Ok," she took a deep breath and her mouth settled into a dull, expressionless pout. "Let's do this."

Peter, Reed and Lilah lined up before The Jon, The Spine and Rabbit's bodies-ready. Alex directed them and observed readings from the monitoring devices attached to all six robots. He also presented three of his great-grandfather's unused power cores to each of them from a gilded, blue-velvet-lined box. With a glowing, blue core held firmly in their gloved hands, each technician moved forward and the experiment commenced.

The core was nestled inside the housing and attached to the neural network. The clamps were secured, locks turned, gates closed and finally shielding placed over the housing. The technicians stepped away from the robots and Alex confirmed that the area was clear before throwing an impressive-looking switch to ignite the circuits of the near-century-old robots. Lastly, the techs returned and pressed two pressure points on each robot to boot them up.

Lilah kept calm as she touched two hidden, flush buttons, one behind Rabbit's left ear and another on his lower right chest. She breathed deeply and steadily, counting to three on each inhale and exhale. She never once looked at their faces as she performed her task and now as she stepped away again her eyes unfocused somewhere near Rabbit's feet. The distinctive hum of their gears turning, of boilers boiling, filled the room and soon their photoreceptors were glowing once more.

Everyone held their breath.

"Hello, robots," Alex addressed them, stepping forward from his position at the console and speaking in a voice that sounded as if he thought they were both deaf and foreign. "How are you feeling?" he boomed.

"Hello?" said The Jon.

"Feeling?" said The Spine.

"Robots?" said Rabbit.

Their voices sounded the same as everyone remembered, but that was to be expected. Voice patterns were more machinery than soul.

"Do you know who we are?" Alex asked in a softer, graver tone.

From their forty-five degree perch, they could see well enough, though they couldn't move to get a better look. Reed and Alex had argued about whether or not to let them be able to move about. In the end it came down to a vote: two for, one against, one (Lilah) abstaining to restrain them. One never knew what might happen.

"You?" asked The Spine. "No. There are four of you, correct?"

"I do not know you. Do you know me?" asked The Jon.

"I want to know you. I think. I'm not sure," wondered Rabbit.

Alex smiled widely, albeit falsely. "That's alright. We're testing you out at the moment. Bright, shining new chassis we've made for you are right behind the screen. Right now, my assistants will take you offline and in less than five minutes you'll wake up again, ready to go! Assistants?" Peter and Reed stepped forward but Lilah hung back. "_Assistants_?" Alex repeated. She took a staggering step forward and with trembling hands booted Rabbit's body down and his mismatched eyes went grey for the last time.

"Hang in there," Reed hissed quietly to her as they performed the next step of the process-the one she had known she had to perform for the last week but now the crushing reality of it seemed to slow her down as if she were walking into a morgue to identify a loved one.

"Right," she said, shaking her head. The dull, emotionless look fell over her face again as she removed the core and all three of them walked around the barrier to the new robot bodies.

When they were brought online, the robots were thankful that they were conscious again but as soon as it was clear that these were in fact totally different beings, Lilah's legs gave out. Without a word, Patrick Reed scooped her up into his arms and rushed with her out of the lab. No one called after them.

He lay her down on her bed in her suite. She was limp, but conscious. Her body shook and she panted lightly.

"Jesus, Lilah. You weigh next to nothing. Have you been…?"

"Please leave me…" she said at a whisper and brought her hands up to her face.

"But I…"

"I know, just please, _please _leave me be, Pat!" she cried and drew in a racking breath.

She _knew_. He frowned, briefly, gently touched her face then turned and did as she wanted. When the door clicked closed, Lilah let go and screamed in agony and grief until she thought she couldn't possible cry anymore, then she cried again. And again.


End file.
